In a typical telephone call, the voice transmitted from a sending phone to a receiving phone through a network may have both a voice component and a background noise component. The voice component may be considered to be the sound waves of the user's voice whereas the background noise component may be considered to be essentially all other transmitted sound waves. A receiving party may hear the background noise if the background noise is not filtered either at the handset or somewhere else along the voice path before it is heard by the receiving party. For purposes of this application, the term “transmitting party” shall mean the party whose telephone is transmitting background noise and the “receiving party” shall be the party whose telephone is receiving or hearing the background noise.
Although background noise may be viewed as an inconvenience, because it is transmitted contemporaneously on the voice channel, background noise may also be a source of information for the receiving party of the background noise. For example, someone on a telephone call with another person believed to be in an office will typically not expect to hear loud construction sounds. Often, without conscience effort, a receiving party may use background noise, if available, to confirm the location or other status of the transmitting party. Continuing with the present example, if the receiving party heard construction noises, the receiving party may want to inquire whether or not the transmitting party is actually at the office. Thus, background noise may be used by the recipient as an additional source of information.